question about seting up rear..

[vr4gasm]

i have my backlash @ .006 gm said as long as its between .005 and .010 i am good my question is how much play should i have left and right i have .007 left and right (thats moving the whole carrier) my fear is that if i shim the carrier anymore its going to be too tight.. opinions?

[bigbrian442]

Re: question about seting up rear..

i have my backlash @ .006 gm said as long as its between .005 and .010 i am good my question is how much play should i have left and right i have .007 left and right (thats moving the whole carrier) my fear is that if i shim the carrier anymore its going to be too tight.. opinions?

There should be no play left to right. The carrier bearings should be preloaded. It should be hard to get the last carrier shim in.

[vr4gasm]

Re: question about seting up rear..

i just don't want to have to drive the shims in with a hammer or something to my knowladge its not supposed to be that tight but it would almost have to be to get no left to right play..

[bigbrian442]

Re: question about seting up rear..

Yes you have to drive it in or use a case spreader. Zero side to side play. Then check your backlash.

[Skinny]

Re: question about seting up rear..

It SHOULD be that tight. There should definately be absolutely no movement side-to-side. You will have to tap the shims in. I usually use a brass punch and a hammer. The best way is to stack all the shims you'll use together and push them all in at the same time. That way you won't end up damaging any one individual shim.

There is actually a method to measure proper preload on the carrier bearings, but the easy way to get the proper preload (or very close to it) is to measure the thickness of the stock shims. Measure the thickness of each shim with a micrometer (measurements must be accurate!). Add the measurements together and write that number down as "total shim thickness." Measure the thickness of each of your new shims and separate them by thickness. I also find that it's best to write the thickness of each shim ON the shim with a marker. The thickness of all of the shims you use (both sides added together) must add up to be within a few thousandths of the total shim thickness you measured from the stock shims. As long as you do that, your carrier bearing preload should be within spec.